Somewhere I Belong
by Cheloya
Summary: Kurama is babysitting for Yusuke and Keiko when Hiei decides to drop in for a visit. Vague shounen-ai.


Edited on 28/05/06 to get rid of the lyrics.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke or Keiko. I suppose I own Yukiko, but what can I do with a baby? I wish I owned Hiei. TT

A/N: I've read the first three YYH manga, a lot of fanfiction and seen none of the anime. I am by no means an expert at this. However, I was inspired and amused enough to write this. If people want to write in and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, that's fine, because I don't. ) However, I'd really appreciate constructive criticism – on characterisation and such – rather than people biting my head off. However, please tell me if I have something spelt incorrectly. #; I hate spelling things wrong.

Secondly, people who don't accept Kurama/Hiei as a valid pairing – for the love of the gods, don't flame me about it. I really don't care about prejudice, in anime or in reality.

That over with, enjoy.

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**Somewhere I Belong**

* * *

It was quiet in the residence of the human Shuuichi Minamino, except for the giggling of a very small child and the indulgent murmurs of Shuuichi – Kurama - himself. The infant girl lay on her back in front of him, flailing her arms and burbling unintelligibly at the brightly coloured, harmless plants that had sprung up around her at Kurama's behest. Daisies there were, and several roses whose thorns had been curbed in order to make the environment for Yusuke Urameshi and Keiko Yukimura's only child as safe as possible.

Yukiko Urameshi had dark, dark eyes and a thin covering of dark auburn hair. She was small for a human child, or so thought the Youko, and weak and convalescent. She didn't yell enough, so she wouldn't develop her lungs properly. And her grip wasn't tight enough.

Kurama rolled his eyes at the sneering thoughts of his demon side and smiled. Fortunately for Yukiko, she would be greatly powerful under the right circumstances, gifted as both her parents were gifted. And if all else failed, she had sheer, unadulterated cuteness on her side. He roughed her up and she squealed and giggled delightedly at him, putting both her fists to her mouth. Kurama's green eyes narrowed slightly in a larger smile. He and the Youko both enjoyed the company of kits.

Keiko and Yusuke had organised this event two weeks in advance, mostly due to Keiko's paranoid desire that Kurama know everything there was to know about taking care of baby Urameshi. Yusuke was more of a last-minute type of guy. Still, they had turned up this evening at his door and handed the tiny bundle to him with caution. It was their first night out since the child had been conceived. (Yusuke had surprised even Genkai by being so restrained.) Keiko immediately listed off a few hundred things that Kurama would have to remember, none of which the red head paid any attention to, while Yusuke the Pack-Horse dumped the ridiculous amount of baby items in the middle of Kurama's living room.

So far, though, Kurama had encountered no trouble with the amicable little child. It was early in the night yet, he thought somewhat pessimistically, and there was still plenty of time for something to go wrong. He held out his two index fingers to Yukiko, and the child gripped them tightly and used them to pull herself to an unsteady seated position. She nearly toppled over, but with a firm grip on Kurama's fingers, she managed to right herself before the fox-demon had to make any sudden movements.

"You must be getting hungry by now, little one. Keiko said that you should feed by seven-thirty." It was almost eight. Perhaps he had been keeping her too well distracted. As though prompted by his cue, Yukiko paused, a tiny frown appearing on her face. She made a small whingeing sound for a couple of seconds and searched the large green eyes above her insistently. She made another sound, almost like a whine, and the Youko at least understood that she was hungry.

Almost immediately, however, Kurama heard a sharp rapping sound from the other end of the apartment. His head jerked up in surprise and he found himself smiling in anticipation. _Hiei_. It could only be the diminutive fire demon. He grinned down at Yukiko and wiggled her back and forth for a few seconds. "Now who could that be, I wonder?" He asked her comically. Yukiko stared at him stubbornly and made another mewling sound.

Kurama lifted her onto his hip and stood up slowly, reflecting that women were certainly made much better for this method of baby-carrying. He shifted her instead to rest on his shoulder, and walked toward his bedroom, from which another impatient rapping sound was emanating.

Hiei's red eyes widened considerably as soon as he saw the child, and the first question off his tongue was, "Is it yours?" The little demon had been away in the Makai for quite some time, and the last time he had visited, it had only been a short trip to see Yukina. Of course he wouldn't have known that Keiko was pregnant. Kurama grinned at the half-Koorime in amusement.

"Of course not." He replied. "If she was mine, she'd be much more attractive. As it is, she's Yusuke's. Her name is Yukiko."

Hiei seemed to calm considerably. "Hn." He swung himself over the windowsill and peered curiously at the child. She was obviously sufficiently distracted by this newcomer to forget about her hunger for a little while, for she made a small gurgling sound and raised a hand to swipe at Hiei's ever encroaching nose. The fire demon took several steps back when Kurama offered her to him, and shook his head violently.

"Hiei, you either hold the baby, or you prepare her food." Kurama said, quite sternly, hiding a smile at the thought processes he _knew_ were passing through Hiei's head. Any time Hiei tried to do anything helpful around food, bad things happened. Sullenly, Hiei held out his arms for Yukiko.

"I don't know what to do." He said uncertainly. Kurama smiled.

"I know." He said kindly. "Just hold her gently, and remember to support her head." He positioned Hiei's arms with one hand and then nestled the baby in the crook of his bandaged arm. Kurama plucked Hiei's other hand delicately and lay it where it needed to be – across Yukiko's tiny shoulders and supportive of her head. He moved back and tilted his head on the side to admire his work with a tiny smile and Hiei growled at him.

"Hurry up." The low, threatening sound seemed to startle Yukiko, because she made a worried, kittenish whimper. Hiei immediately froze, absolutely lost for actions, and eyed Kurama nervously. The fox demon was momentarily saddened by Hiei's utter lack of confidence, but he smiled peacefully.

"It's all right. Just remember, she's intimidated by new sounds." He turned to walk back to the main room of his apartment. "Come on, I'll make her bottle."

Hiei followed his friend, trying to make his step as light and graceful as possible so as not to disturb the baby. Her fists were bunching in the fabric of his shirt, and she rubbed her face from side to side, making small, incoherent baby noises. Hiei glanced down, uncomfortable, and gave the child a piercing look. Yukiko didn't quite understand the concept of a death glare yet, however, and just raised a hand to grope at his cheek in an uncoordinated manner. Hiei looked up just in time to give Kurama a 'get me out of here' look.

Kurama smiled as he measured boiled water into the bottle. "You have impeccable timing, Hiei, as always." He said, obviously amused. He scraped a scoop around in the tin of formula Keiko had brought, and tipped two of them into the bottle. Capping it, he shook it for a few minutes and then frowned. "It's still a little warm…" So saying, he strode across the kitchenette to stick it in the fridge.

As soon as he turned around, Hiei was holding out Yukiko for him to take. Kurama sighed with a long-suffering sort of attitude, and took Yukiko from the fire demon. He tucked the girl under his arm and looked down at her with raised eyebrows. "Well, hello. Did you have a cuddle with Hiei, did you? Was he warm?"

Yukiko giggled again at the playful tone in his voice and squealed delightedly. Hiei stared at Kurama like the fox demon had gone insane. Kurama caught the look, and in a very bouncy, upbeat tone, said, "You have to talk animatedly to babies, Hiei! It makes them feel better! Doesn't it, Yuki-chan?" Yukiko backed up Kurama's statement by issuing an excited series of mutilated sounds. Kurama chuckled. "Oh, she's so cute. But if she doesn't get fed soon, she'll remember she's hungry and she'll be grumpy. Could you fetch her bottle, Hiei?"

Hiei didn't really look as though he wanted to fetch anything, but did as he was asked, mostly because Kurama obviously was not going to amuse him by arguing while he was so preoccupied with Yukiko. Also, the other demon had already settled himself on the couch with the baby and a number of small pieces of cloth. Hiei opened the fridge and stared at the contents for a few seconds, looking for the bottle. He grabbed it, then opened the freezer and was bitterly disappointed to find that there was no sweet snow. Kurama noticed what he was doing and in the same singsong voice as before said, "We can go and get some ice cream later if you want, Hiei."

That seemed to make the half-Koorime want to get the whole feeding business over with as soon as possible. He hurried back across the small apartment to give Kurama the bottle and watched impatiently as Kurama checked the amount of formula in the bottle and propped Yukiko at the right angle. She was immediately focused intently on the bottle, small eyes watching like a hawk as Kurama brought it closer. Finally she clasped tiny, chubby hands around it, and Kurama smiled genially as she sucked at it, frantically at first and then at a more leisurely pace. His eyes focused on the teat, making sure she didn't take too much of it into her mouth and choke herself; making sure that there was no air inside it, or she'd have an upset stomach; making sure her head was at the right angle. His lips twitched as Keiko's litany ran through his head. Apparently there was no way to stop the mind of Shuuichi Minamino from absorbing information, even when he was very pointedly not paying attention.

Hiei was absorbed not with the baby but with Kurama. He was sprawled across the armchair, chin resting on the arm and pillowed by his hands. Though he looked like any snoozing cat, he was very palpably alert, energy thrumming through him like the flames he could control. His half-lidded eyes were fixed on Kurama thoughtfully, taking in the other demon's loving watchfulness for another's kit. It was very like Kurama, to care about something this openly. Hiei's brows quirked slightly. _Jealous?_ He challenged himself. It was most probably true. His childhood had not been spent in the embrace of a loving mother but in the vicious stranglehold of ice and fire. Yukiko coughed suddenly, and the flicker of youki that escaped the infant body broke through his thoughts. His eyes opened wider as Kurama sat her up and waited for the coughing to cease.

"That's what you get when you're a greedy kit." He said softly, bouncing the child gently. He glanced over at Hiei, eyes asking the inevitable question. Hiei's widened eyes answered before the demon could.

"She'll be strong." Hiei muttered, a newfound respect for the child finding its way into his tone. Kurama snorted.

"She is Yusuke's." He said, rhetorically. Hiei raised an eyebrow, unconvinced, but watched the baby with slightly more interest than before. She eyed Kurama poutily for a few moments, then her eyes slid to the bottle and she concentrated fiercely upon it, as though she was willing it to come to her. Hiei smirked and nearly allowed a chuckle to escape. _It will be years before you can harness telekinesis, child._ Yukiko resumed pouting at Kurama and the youkai pouted playfully back. Hiei could not help but notice that Kurama was much better at it than the baby. His lips twitched.

"You're out of practice, fox."

Kurama raised one of his immaculate, flame-coloured eyebrows, and pouted at Hiei, this time putting some actual effort into the movement. "You think so?" His eyes crinkled at the corners when Hiei did not reply, and he smirked away merrily to himself for a few seconds, happy that he had won.

Then Yukiko, sick of being bounced, let out a squall of annoyance and waved her arms. The bottle fell off the arm of the lounge and onto Kurama's spotless cushions – or at least, that was where it was headed when Hiei caught it mid-flight. Kurama took it from him as though he had been expecting it all along and popped the teat into Yukiko's mouth again. "Thankyou." He said primly, deftly rearranging Yukiko's limbs.

Hiei was surprised by the word – it was rarely used between the two of them. But it only silenced him for a second. "Ch'. I just didn't want to listen to your pedantic whining when you had to clean the cushion."

Kurama smiled in a knowing fashion, but remained silent. He had truly missed his verbal spars with Hiei. The fire youkai had been away, on errands for Mukuro in Makai, for a long time. Kurama had tried his utmost not to worry about his friend. But time in Ningenkai had changed the Youko more than he wanted to admit to anyone. One of the effects of growing up as a ningen was that he had developed a ningen habit of worrying over things he could not affect. This annoyed not only the Youko, it annoyed Hiei, too. It annoyed the fire youkai, to be worried over. He barely even tolerated it from Yukina.

"Have you been to see Yukina yet?" He asked suddenly on impulse. Hiei paused, as though he had been thinking hard and was trying to remember what the question had been.

"I… it was late." He said, a hint of annoyance showing in his voice. Kurama tried and failed to hide a grin, and Hiei glared at him. "What?"

"Let me guess – Kuwabara was there?" Kurama replied, amused. "Hiei, he loves Yukina. You cannot expect his fear of her psychotic, over-protective brother to last forever. Particularly when no one saw hide nor hair of you for… fourteen months." The red-haired fox youkai paused, as though surprised. It really had been quite some time.

Hiei fell silent. There was a noisy sucking sound from the bottle, and then it was empty. Yukiko lay recumbent, satiated at last, and yawned loudly in an almost drunken manner. Kurama sat her up and started bouncing her again.

"He is a fool." Hiei muttered at last. "A _fool_."

"Well, he doesn't have to be _your_ mate, Hiei." Kurama replied pointedly. "You are free to go and find the most intelligent being in the three realms. However," He said sternly, "Kazuma-san is loyal, good-hearted and powerful. He will love and defend Yukina with everything that he is." He lifted Yukiko onto his shoulder and patted her back gently. "Yukina adores him. I think that's the only thing that counts."

Hiei scowled and flung himself back against the headrest of the armchair he had chosen. Damn the fox for making so much sense. Damn the Fool for being so… he made a mental snarling sound and glared sullenly at the opposite wall.

Kurama sighed softly under his breath. He wished that the fire youkai wasn't quite so stubborn, sometimes. But then without stubbornness, what was Hiei? He shifted the baby and put the pacifier in her mouth. He smirked suddenly as he was reminded of something.

"Yusuke stole this from Koenma, you know." He said with a smile, gesturing to the dummy. Hiei tore his eyes away from the section of wall he had been glaring at and stared for long enough to comprehend what the fox was talking about. Then he smirked.

"Mukuro has heard a few interesting rumours." He admitted. "Seems he has taken to sucking his thumb."

Kurama laughed out loud. "Is that so?" He chuckled.

Yukiko made a muffled complaint, and raised one of her hands in sleepy protest at the sudden noise. Kurama smiled down at her, and immediately stood, rocking from one leg to the other in an even rhythm to lull her into sleep. After several minutes of this, he lifted his hand and beckoned silently to Hiei.

The fire youkai stood curiously and followed behind the fox, both their feet unnaturally quiet on the carpeted floors. In the corner of the living room, the baby's cot had already been set up. Kurama glanced at Hiei. "Would you pull back the sheets?" Hiei shrugged and did as he was asked. Slowly, Kurama lifted the slumbering child away from his shoulder and lay her in the bassinette, tilting her so gently she didn't notice she was being moved. When she was down, Kurama tucked her in carefully, then moved light-footed to turn out the lights in the room.

"Come. We'll talk in my room – there's less chance of waking her up." Kurama murmured. He glanced down at Yukiko's sleeping face, her slack limbs, and smiled. "She's so cute." He said for the second time that evening. Hiei rolled his eyes as Kurama walked into his bedroom and lay down on the bed. The fire youkai took his customary seat on the windowsill.

"You're even stupider than usual, fox." He commented, referring to the coddling of the ningen child. Kurama shrugged and rolled over so that he was facing Hiei.

"I like kits." He said easily. They were particularly important to the youkai, because of the incredibly low rate at which female youkai conceived. Hiei knew this. It would have been incredibly difficult for the Koorime that was his mother to merely throw him away when children were so rare. The Forbidden Child. Kurama's green eyes were sad as he watched his friend stare blandly out the window.

Hiei bowed his head. "I hate it when you watch me like that." He muttered, the words vicious. Kurama cocked his head. "You know what I mean, fox." And he did. Hiei loathed pity, loathed compassion. It was all weak ningen stupidity to him. But Kurama didn't feel that it was a weakness at all. In fact, in nine cases out of ten, the 'weak ningen stupidity' had been proven to make Yusuke stronger. He closed his eyes.

"I can't help it. I am sorry for you." He said plainly. "It isn't pity. No one should go through what you had to."

He could feel Hiei's anger, and apparently so could Yukiko, because she woke suddenly with a loud burst of sound. Kurama rolled off the bed and was at her side like a streak of lightning, lifting her into his arms and stroking her back soothingly. As he had seen Keiko do, he stuck his mouth and nose close to her tiny neck and murmured softly into the skin there. Yukiko gripped onto the red hair that hung over his ears and clung to it, still making small sounds of alarm. Kurama frowned. Hiei was still angry. He could feel it ebbing from the next room. Angry… and sad? Kurama laid a soft kiss on Yukiko's head and, moving in a slow, rocking walk, eventually made it to the door of the bedroom.

"Hiei. She doesn't appear to be going back to sleep just yet. Would you like to go out and buy some ice cream now?"

Hiei turned burning red eyes on Kurama, still simmering with anger, but loath to pass up the opportunity for sweet snow. Finally, he hopped off the window sill and stormed across the room. "I hate you." He muttered furiously as he passed. Kurama got in his way and leaned down into Hiei's face to butt his head lightly against the fire youkai's.

"Don't be angry with me." He cajoled. Hiei glared and snorted, but some of the heat of his anger went away. Yukiko stopped crying, but still clung to Kurama's forelock stubbornly. Kurama reflected that it was much like the stubborn way Hiei was clinging to his annoyance. Still, he was satisfied that the half-Koorime wasn't about to go burning holes in his belongings – possibly only because of the promise of sweet snow. Kurama held onto Yukiko with one arm and grabbed his wallet off the counter, tucking it carefully into his pocket with a wry smile. Tearing a piece of note paper from a pad beside his phone, Kurama scrawled a quick note in the common language of the Makai, letting Yusuke know where he'd gone and that they'd be back soon, on the off chance that Yusuke would make it back before midnight.

The brief walk passed in silence except for Kurama's occasional comments to the baby about things they saw on the way. She was particularly interested in street lights and colourful shop windows. Hiei was particularly disinterested with everything they passed – at least until they found the ice cream parlour. They strode in, and Kurama was somewhat irritated to find that he knew the girl serving quite well.

"Shuuichi-san! I see your foreign friend is back in town. And a new face! Is she yours, Kurama-san? She's adorable." She gushed, peering interestedly over the counter to see the baby.

"No, not mine, Nakuru-san." Kurama said cheerily. _Why do people keep thinking that?_ "I'm babysitting for another friend, and this one decided to drop in."

"Well, it's good to see you again, sir." She directed at Hiei seriously. "Shuuichi-san comes in all the time, and has just about every flavour except mint chip. It's downright miserable to watch him."

Hiei gave the fox youkai a sideways look and caught him looking distinctly embarrassed. He smirked enigmatically at Kurama, who cleared his throat. "Well, we have to get this one back to bed. A triple and a single in mint chip, please." He said quickly.

As Nakuru leaned forward to scoop up some sweet snow, Kurama reached down to pull his wallet out of his pocket. Yukiko chose that moment to launch herself backwards. With a particularly squeaky, "Eee…" Kurama caught her and clutched her back to his chest nervously. _Well, that was silly, kit._ "Hiei, my wallet's in my pocket. Grab it, would you?"

Hiei glared. Kurama sighed and gave him a Look. It said, _the wallet or the baby._ Hiei held out his arms for Yukiko. In the language of Makai, he said, "I am not going to be seen groping you in public, fox." Kurama blinked widely at him, surprised enough that for a moment he couldn't respond. A blush came to his cheeks. He handed over Yukiko and the money almost in the same movement, apparently quite embarrassed.

"Thankyou, Nakuru-san." He said to the girl. She smiled at him and sorted the change into the till.

"Not a problem, Shuuichi-san. Make sure you come back soon. And tell your friend to stick around. You're far happier when he's in town."

Kurama knew that, but he didn't see any reason why Hiei had to. He resisted the sudden urge to Rose Whip the girl into the next dimension and tucked his wallet back into his pocket. Hiei held out Yukiko, and Kurama decided not to play along. He grabbed the ice cream cones and started walking.

"Fox." Hiei was having none of it. "Take. The. Baby."

Kurama smiled and extended a very pink tongue to take a lick of his cone. "You can wait until we get home, Hiei." He smirked.

"I'll drop the brat." Hiei snarled. Kurama felt the tiniest pang of concern, but then shrugged lazily.

"I'll drop your sweet snow." He said smoothly. That made Hiei pause, but only for a second.

"_Fox._" He growled angrily. Yukiko let out a whimper. Kurama rolled his eyes and held both the cones in one hand, then knelt in order to hold Yukiko properly with one arm. Hiei snatched his cone of mint chip ice cream and gave Kurama an evil look. Kurama looked away as he adjusted the child and took another lick of his own cone as they started the short walk back home. They didn't speak.

The note was still taped to the door, untouched, when they reached the apartment. Kurama unlocked it, having finished his ice cream, and tilted his whole torso backwards so that Yukiko couldn't pull the stunt she had at the ice cream parlour. She giggled at him.

Hiei stomped past Kurama into the apartment and flung open the only other window he had. Balanced precariously there, he stared out at the lights of the city below, eyes narrowed furiously. Kurama hid his mouth behind Yukiko's head. There was ice cream all over Hiei's face. _All over_ it. He set Yukiko down in her cot and tucked several colourful, abstract toys around her, then went into the kitchen to moisten a tea towel.

Hiei suspected nothing as the fox youkai sidled up behind him. He scowled at the flicker of movement behind him and then yelled in surprise as Kurama neatly placed the tea towel over the lower half of his face, pinning both his arms and dragging him back inside the apartment. Hiei kicked out, and Kurama winced as a flailing foot caught him in the shin.

"Relax, Hiei. Just lie still and trust me for a moment."

If Hiei had been facing the right way, he'd have glared. As it was, he made some muffled noises of impotent fury and then glowered silently. Kurama let him go and spun the fire youkai around to face him. Then he carefully folded the piece of cloth and wiped Hiei's face gently. Hiei stiffened in surprise and then relaxed again when he saw the film of melted sweet snow that went away on the cloth. Kurama smiled peacefully. "That's much better." He said cheerfully.

Hiei stared at him penetratingly, then raised a hand to return the favour and remove the slightest fleck of sweet snow from high on Kurama's cheek. Kurama's eyes were very green from this close. Hiei felt the slightest of tingles deep in his belly and fought against the urge to smile. Kurama stared very gravely at Hiei, as though he was considering something carefully. Then his nose twitched and his expression became slightly sulky. Hiei blinked and sniffed the air, then made a sound of disgust. "What is _that_?"

Kurama sighed and stood up straight slowly, stretching out his limbs reluctantly. "That would be the baby."

So passed a less than fun diaper change for Yukiko Urameshi. Kurama was very manly about it under the circumstances – he was _not_ wearing old clothes, in fact he was wearing one of his favourite green shirts. Hiei just clapped both his hands over his nose, stood as far away as possible and muttered over and over again that ningens were disgusting. After the fourth repetition, Kurama got narky.

"Hiei, I am the Youko. Even in human form, I have his nose. I am standing _much_ closer than you are. Please stop _reminding me_ of how disgusting this is."

Finally, the diaper had been tied into its own plastic bag and flung down the rubbish chute with abandon, and the baby had been strapped firmly into a clean one. Yukiko giggled happily at her demonic carers as they stared down – or in Hiei's case, straight ahead – at her with slightly distasteful expressions. Hiei looked considerably more disgusted than Kurama, who had dealt with ningen children before.

Yukiko yawned sleepily, and Kurama smiled. "They are weak, and disgusting, but they are also incredibly cute." He said forgivingly. Hiei made a disparaging sound as the fox gently picked up the child to cradle her against his shoulder. Again, the tiny fist affixed itself to the forelock. Even after she had fallen asleep, he couldn't tug it loose. He gave Hiei a helpless sort of look and walked towards his room. "I'll lie down with her for a while. That way if she relaxes her hold, I can leave her to lie on the bed."

Hiei trailed after the other with the expression of one who has nothing better to do. He watched as Kurama draped himself artistically across his bed, smirked, and went to sit in the window. A cool wind rustled the locks of hair that fell forward over his bandanna, tugged gentle fingers over his clothing. Hiei shivered.

Kurama watched his friend with half-lidded eyes. "So, what brings you to Ningenkai?" He asked. It didn't seem as though Hiei had a specific purpose. Hiei shrugged obtusely.

"Mukuro told me to 'go and see my fox'." He muttered quietly. "So, I came to see you."

"I'm your fox, now?" Kurama asked, amused by the thought. Hiei shrugged again, being careful not to allow his eyes to stray inside the apartment. Kurama thought that over for some time. "I'm glad you did come back." He said softly. "I've… missed you."

"Been moping?" Hiei asked, referring to Nakuru's comments. Kurama's bright eyes deepened to a more shadowy green. He made a soft sound of assent, as though mildly shamed by such an admittance.

"I worry." He said, and his voice was stubbornly free from embarrassment. "We, more than the Reikai Tantei, are a team. Or so it seems to me." He stroked Yukiko's back gently as she squirmed and made a slight sound in her sleep. He was glad of the distraction, intensely saddened by the fact that Hiei had only come to see him on Mukuro's orders. He was not risking her wrath by visiting when he was supposed to be working on something else. Somewhere in his head, Kurama rolled his eyes. He really _was_ a hopeless romantic. It was pathetic.

Somewhere in the middle of things, he must have fallen asleep, because when he heard a knock at the door, Hiei was curled on the mattress beside him, and he himself was curled slightly around Yukiko. He blinked several times sleepily and then slid expertly off the bed, trying not to wake Hiei. He picked up Yukiko equally gently and padded to the front door.

Yusuke stood grinning with Keiko blinking sleepily in tow. "Hey, man, how'd you go?"

"She was very good." He felt a flicker of youkai from Hiei, and saw Yusuke's eyes slide to the side in surprise. Kurama smiled. "Hiei dropped by. I suppose that's his version of hello, for tonight."

Keiko nodded once, though it was a little stiffer than usual. She took her baby back, and cuddled her gently as Yukiko squirmed in her sleep. Yusuke slipped past Kurama to start loading all of the baby things onto his back. He only sent one questioning glance towards the bedroom before frowning a little and returning his task. Kurama smirked at this.

"He is… or was… asleep. I think if you go in now, and he's gone back to sleep, he'll kill you when he wakes up." He informed Yusuke calmly. The toushin grinned again.

"Guess so. Was thinkin' I should take a picture for Kuwabara's blackmailing pleasure. Ah well." He shrugged, the movement comical underneath the dozens of baby items, and shuffled towards the exit. Kurama grinned.

"You should have been here when I told him to hold the baby."

He farewelled his friends, yawning once at the door, and then locked it carefully behind them.

Kurama returned to his bedroom and smiled at the slumbering form of Hiei. He wasn't really asleep – he was perfectly aware, but dozing. Kurama climbed into the bed and loosely looped his arms about Hiei. The half-Koorime shifted slightly, and then snuggled backwards into Kurama's warmth. "Fox." He murmured lightly in recognition. Kurama smiled and closed his eyes, pressing himself close to the fire youkai. It was more than likely that he would leave before morning, but it was nice to have this casual intimacy. It was particularly nice that Mukuro thought it necessary to send Kurama a gift-wrapped Hiei once in a while, not because of any tenderness toward Kurama, but because the lack of him had obviously had some effect upon Hiei. That was very nice indeed. He bowed his head and buried his nose into the half-Koorime's thick black hair.

"Good night, Hiei."

"…stupid fox…"

A/N: I really couldn't see Hiei-chan saying 'good night', could you? Please review and let me know what you thought.

**(Heh! This is 5555 words long, not counting this bolded sentence. Rock on!)**


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